The adventures of Rosey and Riley: We drove 3,870.6 miles

in 10 days, through 6 states, 3 provinces and 2 different countries. And it was a blast! Oh, there are things I would do differently the next time. I think I would like to have a camper. It rained on us 7 out of 8 nights. It was only 8 nights because of the one night we spent in the hotel. And now that I am home I will freely admit that I was petrified about bears in the campsite. We were lucky, and never saw any near us, but that doesn't mean that the thought didn't spook me the whole trip.

And I would figure out the money thing differently. I am not a worldly traveler. I don't go on big vacations. This is the first big trip I have made in eons. I didn't want to carry a bunch of cash on me, so I thought I would take travelers checks. Sounded like a good idea. Well, the first inkling that maybe it wasn't such a great idea was when my own bank charged me for them. That should have sounded the warning bell. But I forged ahead. In the U.S., I found some stores that didn't want to take them, but mostly it there was just confusion from the cashier who had to call over the manager and ask "Do we take these things?" I feel as though I was performing some valuable community service and educating cashiers across the country. However, when I got to Canada, I found some places refused to take them. And they wouldn't take American money either. Actually, most places took American dollars, but some charged 10% above the cost of the purchase. And a few places wanted nothing but Canadian dollars. I was okay with that, so I headed to a bank to exchange some Travelers checks into Canadian dollars. The first thing they asked me at the bank in Canada was "Do you have an account with us?" Now the warning bells are going off in my head and I know that whatever is coming will not be in my favor. Sure enough, they would be happy to cash my checks for me, but it will cost be $5.00/check. And since the exchange rate right now is not favorable to the US dollar there is an immediate loss. I estimate it cost me about $50 to purchase/exchange the Traveler's Checks. Never again. Next time the trip will be plastic!

The other thing I would do is to take a small gas tank with me. I never ran out of gas, mainly because I was fanatic about filling my tank up whenever it got close to the half-way mark. Good thing too. The stops on the Alaska highway were pretty far between. And I also found places where there was no gas available because they were waiting for delivery, or the pumps were broken leaving only one functioning pump, or the time I spaced out and drove by the stop. It was so easy to do. There would be a sign that said Services 2 KM and then a gravel driveway looking thing would be off to the side. Sometimes you could tell before hand what it was, but not always. The one time I drove by I had a half-tank and I was down to a quarter when I finally found another gas station.

Anyway, those few details, and the rain, are the only complaints I have. Jake was a good travel companion, if not much of a navigator. Did I mention that I did this as a pretty low-tech trip? No radar detector or GPS, no MP3 player or Ipod, and my CD player is on the blink. Just an FM radio, an Atlas and the Alaska Milepost. We stopped and spoke with people at many different Visitors Bureau's, and they never gave us bad advice! I know Jake got bored on much of the trip. I mean, how much time do you want to spend sitting in the car? But he was able to plug into his music, pull his hat down, and nap.

Now, back to the adventure part, which I know is the part you've been waiting for...

To recap: the first night was at a boring KOA and the second night was at a campsite next to cows. It poured on us that night, and we only got slightly damp, but it was the first night of the cold. The next night we stayed at another KOA. We had been to Mt. Rushmore and by Devils Tower. It was a warm evening that we spent with Terry, a teacher from Ohio, and her daughter Molly. Terry gave us the idea for down blankets in the sleeping bags, but when we went shopping we found fleece inserts. They were wonderful, along with the knit hat I picked up to wear as part of my sleeping attire. Without those additions to our sleeping bags, I'm not sure we would have been able to camp every night.

Let me tell you a little about the landscape. After we crossed the Mississippi River, the land was rolling hills and Jake and I kept seeing signs for Wall Drug. By the time we got to the Missouri River we were convinced we wanted to go to Wall Drug and check out the old time flavor.

But after we got past the Missouri the landscape flattened out and there was NOTHING to see. No hills, no animals, no billboards. I said to Jake, maybe we missed it. There are no more signs. Jake looked around at all the empty landscape and said, "Mom, there is nothing to advertise for. There is nothing here." And he was right, it was miles before we saw anything. But the signs for Wall Drug did eventually show up again. We made it to Wall Drug, but I was disappointed in it. It was nothing but a huge tourist trap that was full of people buying touristy items that resembled the touristy items that are sold in downtown Anchorage, and I even saw some of the same items in Canada. Anyway, it wasn't long before we were back on the road.

Our border crossing into Canada caused a bit of delay. Maybe it was the bow and arrows, or the fact that we had shotgun barrels, but no guns. Whatever it was, it took us about an hour to get across the border. But I think we had it easy. I was watching the van that pulled in after us. It appeared to have several Mennonite folks, or some similar sect, and their van was examined stem to stern. Their hubcaps were taken off, and someone crawled under the van to check out the undercarriage. Meanwhile, the jeep and trailer sat next to them and no one gave them a glance. I had nothing to hide, but I was still glad that they didn't take apart the trailer.

Big Sky Country continued to get bigger and bigger

Why does it say Alaska on this van in Wyoming?

More funky Americana fun

The scenery in Wyoming and Montana had given away from hills and mountains to plains. Empty empty plains. Anyone ever read O Pioneers by Willa Cather? I can almost understand how the emptiness can drive someone crazy. And the scenery didn't change once we got into Alberta. The roads were straight and essentially flat. Farms were there, but few and far between. There wasn't even a lot of cows to be seen. On the second day in Canada, when we headed toward the Royal Tyrell Museum, I was impressed by how incredibly straight the road to the museum was. It was as if some grand architect had placed a chalk-line in the earth as a guide for the road, like I might do on the wall to ensure my wallpaper is hung straight. Unfortunately, there was also major construction on this little road causing lots of dust and delay. But the museum in the middle of the Canadian Badlands was worth it.

Outside the museum. It will be Jake's fate to explain why he wouldn't show his face.

The original pea-brain

There's the jeep in the Canadian Badlands!

After all that driving to get to the museum, we were a bit off track. It took us a while to get back to the highway, and then it seemed to take forever to find a campground. Actually, it seemed to me that not everything in Canada was well-marked, which probably explains why we got lost in Edmonton. But that didn't happen until I got tired of looking for a campground and we spent a lovely night in a hotel with a pool and great showers.

After that, we were back on the road. The landscape changed again from plains to hills and farms were more numerous. We saw some wildlife, mainly deer and antelope, but not much else. I was surprised by the number of horses I saw, more like ranches than farms. Evergreens became more prominent and the land got hilly. The road was a two-lane highway and it was full of campers and truckers. And a few U-Hauls and motorcycles thrown in for good measure.

The next campground we stayed at was busy and full. It was still raining, but we were able to get a small fire going. We met a nice guy, Ernie, who was riding him BMW bike from Ontario, to Chicago and onto Fairbanks where he was meeting with some friends and doing a different route than we were taking. Our neighbors on the other side of us were living in their tent as they were looking for work. I think if anyone needs a job, they can head to northern Canada as there were help-wanted signs all over. On the other hand, there were also many for sale signs up, so whatever people were doing for a livelihood, maybe it wasn't working so well.